Two Healing Baleroc

There’s been some discussion going around a couple of blogs that I read this week about 2 vs. 3 healing in 10 mans. The original post at Murloc Parliament feels that the healers are being punished for doing their jobs well when forced into 2 healing encounters. I can see how people would feel that way. Personally, I enjoy the challenge … as a paladin, the only way my mana pool is ever stretched is if I die and get brezzed, or we 2 heal, and I really dislike dying. Please note that this only applies to non-progression content … and Staghelm. (Flamescythe can DIAF ….along with those dang cat adds) So basically, anything that’s not the two final bosses in Firelands. Also note that I am never the one who is asked to switch to DPS. Part of this is because my raids don’t want to lose beacon, and part of it is because we have enough melee and/or have other healers who enjoy swapping. (Zarm gets to whip out his fire kitteh staff.) My opinion on the subject of two healing would likely be different (vehemently against it most likely!) if I was the one having to dps.

A response post from lonomonkey indicates that the fight in question here is Baleroc. Apparently they are not making the enrage timer. Heck, we had issues when we first faced him, barely making the enrage even when solo tanking it. If they are using the traditional 2 tanks, 3 heals, 5 dps model, then I am not at all surprised that they are having problems. Obviously my first suggestion to them would be to try one tanking it. This can bring up other issues though if they don’t have a tank with a viable offspec. We had to bring in a dps and sit out a tank one night on it, because his offspec just was not going to get it done. He has since taken the time to work on his gear/spec and is able to fill in as DPS when we need him to.

This brings me to last night. We had been discussing 2 healing Baleroc in SR, but ultimately had decided on previous weeks just to steamroll him like usual to get to the progression stuff faster. Well, last night we were missing our main tank, which meant Cayle had to tank it instead of his usual role of soaking the first crystal. So we brought out the backup plan of having Slice go shadow to soak the crystal. (We use a method of having one person soak an entire crystal to build mega-stacks on the heals super fast.) To further complicate matters, we did not have a fillin for our vacationing tank, so we were 9 manning. With people in different roles than normal, it took 5 attempts. Was it stressful? Actually … no. Not really. In fact, seeing those awesomely huge stacks was pretty exhilarating. I did have to ask for support heals during decimation blades, but for the most part, after the first two crystals, the tank was my sole responsibility. I had to get a screenshot of the stacks, it was amazing.

Anyway, my suggestion for their raid is to try the single tank method first, assuming their group composition can handle it. I wouldn’t recommend trying to two heal without trying one tank first. Again though, it totally depends on your raiders. What works best for one group may not be a good idea for another. I don’t get the huge stacks like that in our Crits raid, because we don’t soak a full crystal with one player. Minor tweaks in strategy, but they make a difference. (Those ultra stacks are overkill btw … I only need about half to 2/3 that many to be effective … and we won’t even mention Zarm’s stacks. He’s a beast.)

Yeah, I think we’re going to change things up a little on Baleroc this week because Grom is out. Might try having Squishi tank the whole first crystal, then go cat. I don’t intend to two heal it any time soon though! Not when our dps has been solid. I’m willing to two heal Shannox, Ryo, and try on Alys if we need it for some reason. Beth might be doable if I use my mana gear. But Staghelm is right out. Die you stupid flaming scorpion.

We’ve always single tanked it and have now 2 healed it with either a holy pally/disc priest or holy pally/resto druid combo. (Our holy pally really likes the challenge, it won’t be long before he’s asking to solo heal something in FL…).

2 healing Domo is doable, we’ve done it with the same set ups as for Baleroc. Just make sure that the healers go to opposite sides of the circle for the spread, raid cooldowns are used appropriately for the stacks, and people need to get their asses out of fire fast.